Do all women try to keep their significant others up to date in fashion - newer, fashionable color, better texture? And throw out socks and underwear you don't want the SO seen in if he/she gets taken to the hospital?

Does your SO get upset when tee shirts come up missing? Does he say, "Well, I can use that as my mowing (or painting, or fishing, or hunting...) shirt!"?

Marge and I compromise. She buys me new stuff, which I wear when the occasion calls for it, and I throw out socks that have holes and underwear that should not see the light of day. But I have a stack of tee shirts and jeans which are for bumming around, and for working, or whatever, that are for me to decide whether to keep for a few more years, or not.

I go into my hubby's drawers and take inventory of his boxers and white tee shirts. The man will wear boxers that have stretched out waistbands and shirts that are torn. I'm constantly buying new socks because my washer/dryer "misplaces" the socks. I'm very fashion-conscious, consequently, I expect hubby to be the same way. I also take inventory of his shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts and pants. If I cease to like them...OUT THEY GO, yes, without his knowledge. When he asks for a particular item, I play stupid. NO comments, Carl. LOLAdditionally, I buy new things for him and add them to his hanging clothes. He never has a clue as to where they came from. Just picks up the item with this cute puzzled look on his face. Kinda like, "where did this come from"? Oh, and what really infuriates me is when he takes a day off and puts on a long sleeve shirt that requires dry cleaning. Why wear that shirt when you can put on a casual shirt that can be tossed into the washer? He says,he feels comfortable in it.While we're on the subject, DON'T, I REPEAT DON'T take a good towel to wash your car, that's what rags are for. I could go on and on, but I'll stop.

LMAO! What,do they all take lessons from each other or what? I think all of the above goes uder the heading "It's a guy thing" All I can say is -Yep, ya gotta love 'em! lols They're totally clueless. As far as throwing things out on my hubby-no I don't throw things away on him-if he still like wearing it, then so be it, it's his choice.Although I will never understand why he insists on wearing a pair of jeans that he has to suck in his gut to put on! How in the world can that be comfortable?? God forbid you just go out and get a bigger size-oh no, these fit fine, they'll stretch out lol My friend says her hubby does the same thing. What's up with that? So ya need a bigger size who ya tryin to kid anyway? Holey socks, well yeah-out they go-who likes to wear holey socks anyway? Other than that,hey he's the one wearin it so...whatever

Laughing about the jeans. The guy keeps thinking, "I'll just drink a few less beers, and get started on those exercises, and then these jeans will be fine."

A real motivational tool for the guy is - buy him a pair of jeans or trousers that are a size too big. Then he has the choice of too-tight or falling down. May not solve the wardrobe problem, but it will definitely motivate him to take action (on the waist size, or on getting some more trousers in his current waist size).

We have a stack of towels (the kind that are not the best) for washing the vehicles and for wiping the brow when I'm mowing or loppping brush or working on our property.

Think choices - just like you do with kids.

As for your situation, PDM, sometimes that's all you can do.

Now, in our house, mostly Marge cooks, and I clean up and keep the d/w loaded, run, or unloaded. But I sometimes cook - especially omelets and other situational items.

And Marge mostly does the laundry. But she's good about starting the washer, and I'll notice, and put them in the dryer, and then fold the clothes. But sometimes I'll do the laundry - especially if she's working.

If a guy is allowed to complain, one thing that I notice: when I take off my clothes, I try to turn them right side out before putting them in the dirty clothes area. And when I take clothes from the dryer, I'll turn any clothes right side out before folding (or hanging) them. But Marge will just fold them as she finds them.

So when I put my clothes away, I won't know sometimes which are undershirt tees and which are my working outside tees.

But, that's really not a very big complaint.

As I said before, you compromise. Or you learn to look the other way. Or, I guess, you can always get even. But I wouldn't advise that for the males (or SOs).

Marge says I am fond of dangling my feet in the piranha-infested waters, but I'm not going to deliberately put my head in there.

Ok, Mike does NOT cook, clean, pickup after himself or anything like that. I do it all and I'm not complaining. He has an extremely stressful job and I'm retired. However, when we're having company over to the house, he takes the house apart and makes it sparkle. For that, I'm grateful. He has strength that I don't have.

Rob, my hubby, refuses to accept the fact that he has gained weight! He wears a large sized shirt. He insists he wears a medium. He buys M, then they don't fit, BUY A LARGE FOR PETE'S SAKE! Same with jeans. It's no longer a 32 you wear, my dear, it's 34! He even gets offended if I buy him clothes in sizes he deems 'Too Big'. But lo and behold...THEY FIT!

So, I no longer buy him things. I let him handle that.

I find that I have a bunch of men's tee shirts in size M to wear, though...hmm...

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The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

And that's what I'm saying Luv! Each partnership has to communicate and find what works for you. As you've said, your has been working for some time now. Good for you.

I am also "retired." Even though I tried to do my part with all the household jobs (that are really not male or female - some are more who is better suited, and some are just chores that need to be done and could be done by either, or both), things changed in the Spring of 2003.

I talk about this in Marge's ITP story. Since she works so hard as a nurse (even now that she has "retired," she works PRN so that we can pay most of our bills), I try hard to be a househusband (but also keep up with the "manly" tasks also - building decks and keeping things away from Marge - like wasps, snakes, and the like).